"Whatever," Karrin snaps, but when the others aren't looking she gives Isaac a wink.
"I have a few protective abilities as a part of my birthrite. I can absorb some of the damage aimed at my charge."
Sense motive
Rhiannon shakes her head after glancing from Karrin to Isaac
"No nothing has changed since the last time you asked with Nari" Merle responds.
"No nothing has changed since the last time you asked with Nari" Merle responds.
"She's right. Most of my abilities are destructive. If we have reason to think we are heading through a dangerous area, I can detect hostile intent, but I hesitate to do it too often since that would limit my usefulness if we did encounter enemies if I had already exhausted my mental energies."
Ekuur:
The party notes that Ekuur looks preoccupied during the discussion of protective spells for the party and tactics.
Merle waits till she is certain none of the Ragatosk are in hearing distance before approaching Isaac
Isaac
Ekuur remains distracted, almost lost in his own world as the others talk.
"That's alright Isaac. We may not be the most subtle group, but I have faith in your ability to prevent us from being ambushed, and once we see our attackers, well, they're pretty much toast." Justin says with a smirk.
Noting Ekuur's distraction, Justin carefully nudges the large warrior-priest. "Are you alright Ekuur? What is it?" The mage looks deliberately at the bag now holding the seed, then back. "Everything alright?"
Later that evening after some discussion Glittereye pleads exhaustion and retires. He reveals that Hanalindali is indeed an elvish city, and situated on the Material Plane.
The group is led to a chamber and fed well, if somewhat vegetatively. Talismin is still a 'guest' here. She is tied up in a room near their sleeping chambers, and she smirks as the group trots by.
"Ready to ransom me yet? I can earn my keep if you'd only let me."
Phaumee departs to pack for the journey. He plans to accompany the group to the portal
In the morning, Glittereye arises, still looking somewhat ragged. The group arises as well, Ekuur lagging behind
Ekuur:
Glittereye leads them outside the hutch, and takes them to a branch two hours journey away. The branch has no portal open on it, until the aged priest takes some dust from a pouch and throws it in the air. Twenty feet above the ground a shining halo comes into view.
Glittereye looks back as the group
"Please hurry back. The Warpwood is always in my thoughts now, and I fear that irreparable harm will result to the Mother if it is not healed soon."
"We will hurry. I am not used to the visions the seed is giving me, and while they are not unpleasant, it something ... unusual for me."
"We will hurry. I am not used to the visions the seed is giving me, and while they are not unpleasant, it something ... unusual for me."
Justin nods determinedly, and pops his knuckles.
"All right then. Let's deliver the package, and get the cure." he says with a nod. Then he chuckles.
"Heh. Heheh. 'Save the tree, save the multiverse.' There's a catch phrase for you." He grins before he follows Ekuur, jumps up to take advantage of the switch in gravity between the branches, pushes off a smaller branch, and passes through the shimmering portal headfirst, trusting in his boots' enchantment to land him safely on the other side.
Nari follows after Justin, seeming a bit more like her usual quiet and subdued self this morning.
Justin dives into the shimmering portal and feels the dislocation of travelling instantaneously through time and space. He emerges face first into a tangle of oak leaves.
Nari, following more sedately, steps out onto a large branch of a mighty oak. She sees Justin freeing himself from the foliage. They both look around for a moment.
The tree they are in is the height of 20 men easily. A giant among oaks, and worthy to house a portal to Yggdrasil. The sky above the tree is a cerulian blue, and a bright yellow sun rides high in it, something they have not seen for a long time.
From their tall perch, they can see they are in a valley ringed by tall white-capped mountains, They march all about, ringing the valley in a fence of granite. The valley itself is a deep emerald, with the occasional farmstead or small woods dotting the landscape.
A distance away, a city rears up from a rose-colored hill. Tall, multi-colored towers crown the hill, surrounded by a wall of bright white marble.
On the ground of the tree, there are several menhirs arranged in a circle. There looks to be a cobbled path leading from this henge away towards the distant city.
Justin slowly extricates himself from the foliage, gets upright, turns to Nari, and spits out a couple of Oak leaves.
"Note to self. The enchantment on Cat's Boots only work if your landing on a solid surface." He says wryly, plucking a persistent leaf from his hair.
He looks around, and his usual expression is momentarily replaced by a look of awe as he gazes around the countryside spread out below them.
"Now That is beautiful." he murmurs, taking a deep breath and holding it, as if trying to hold a memory. Reluctantly, he finally lets it go and points to the distant city on the hilltop.
"I'm guessing that's our destination? Look impressive enough to house someone of high import. Now, how do we get down from here,...?" Justin begins looking about the tree itself.
"There's a path, there's got to be a ladder, right?"
"There's a path, there's got to be a ladder, right?"
1d20+7
Justin finds upon close study of the tree's bark that there are indeed some boles in the tree bark that seem almost placed to help someone climb down. He would estimate they are about 80' above ground level.
Karrin uncoils some rope.
"Well glorious leader, you want to tell us how to get down out of this tree, or do you think we're smart enough to figure it out for our selves?"
Not adept at climbing and hindered by her heavy armor, Rhiannon very slowly makes her way down the rope she produces from her gear.
Merle waits till she is certain none of the Ragatosk are in hearing distance before approaching Isaac
Isaac
** spoiler omitted **
Merle:
Merle waits till she is certain none of the Ragatosk are in hearing distance before approaching Isaac
Isaac
** spoiler omitted **Merle: ** spoiler omitted **
Isaac
Perception:
Isaac looks about with a curiosity, shielding his eyes to examine the effects of this rumored ball of fire, "The Sun".
"Huh. So this is the Prime, eh? Looks like the Outlands but... brighter."
"Well glorious leader, you want to tell us how to get down out of this tree, or do you think we're smart enough to figure it out for our selves?"
The Godsman sighs in frustration.
"Look. Just pike it, Karrin. I'm sodding tired o' this. Yeh think you can do a better job, step up and sodding do it. I've had enough o' this "Fearless Leader" or "Exalted Leader" nonsense. Anyway, ye're all Primes, right? Maybe you oughtta take the reins, seein' as I'm the Clueless here."He starts climbing down the bark of the tree.
"See? Just one foot and then th'other."
Climb:
Present time
Merle slowly steps through the portal onto the giant tree. "Nice view" she says to no one in particular as she looks around. She procedes to climb down the tree
Climb
Merle waits till she is certain none of the Ragatosk are in hearing distance before approaching Isaac
Isaac
** spoiler omitted **Merle: ** spoiler omitted **
Isaac
** spoiler omitted **
Merle
Karrin grumbles again but in truth she's more worried then angry at the moment.
She gave Isaac a prime opportunity to bring the hammer down and crush her little rebellion. Isaac should have given Karrin a penance of extra work duty that would have made her head spin, Karrin was certain that the others in the group wouldn't give her an ounce of sympathy considering how she thick she was laying it on, but now Isaac was showing strain and showing weakness. There were those in the group that would pounce at sign of weakness. Was Isaac really cracking? Surely he hadn't forgotten their little conversation?
How was she suppose to hand deliver the group to him if backed down? Perhaps he was playing her now as well? Perhaps he actually didn't want the job? Isaac was hard to read sometimes. She needed to talk to him to figure out what angle he was playing.
"Suppose you want me to take that gastly middle watch again," Karrin grumbles once they're all on the ground.
Ekuur shakes his head at Karrin's constant complaints and backtalk. He makes his way down the tree using the footholds.
take 10 on climb (?) Is that enough to make it safely down?
Justin shakes his head at Karrin's snarkiness. But devotes his attention to the 'ladder' and his own safety instead.
;P
Justin slowly makes his way down, planning on getting within 20' of the ground, and letting his boots take it from there.
"Plenty o' space on the road, it seems. I'm sure ye're eager to get back in the saddle, Rhiannon, so why don't you take the advance? We keep Ekuur in the center: I want Karrin and Justin on either side o' him, Nari, Merle and Seph in the back rank. Keep yer eyes sharp and on our backs: scenery may be awful sweet but we don't know what's out there. I'll be in front keepin' an eye on what's up the road. Tumble?"
Justin throws Isaac an exaggerated salute.
"Wei, Mon Capitan!" He smirks, decidedly oblivious to the fact that it will probably annoy the ranger. Or perhaps because of it.
Justin takes his place next to Ekuur, still with a small smile on his face.
"It IS beautiful. Reminds me of home." He says to the flame priest, looking around.
Nari gave Isaac a sympathetic glance as she went by. She wasn't sure what had gotten into Karrin, but she could see that Isaac was getting frustrated. She stayed towards the back as she had been ordered, keeping a wary eye out. She didn't mind it here near the tree, but she wasn't looking forward to heading into the city. Her stomach churned with nerves as she thought about having to deal with new people and culture.
The party makes it to the ground without much trouble. The standing stones surounding the tree are about 15' high and 5' wide. They are covered in swirling Celtic-style engravings, but look ancient. The cobbled road looks to be granite slabs fitted tightly together, about 10' wide. It looks to head down a gentle slope to the distant city and a large shining river it sits athwart.
Ekuur:
Keeping a wary eye on her surroundings, Nari leans over and whispers to Merle.
"Do you have any idea what's wrong with Karrin? She's acting funny lately."
Merle watches Karrin for a bit before whispering back " It could be her starting to fall under the influence of that thing in the warpwood. I mean glittereye and that other priestess began acting a little off before they went completely crazy as well didn't they? Best to keep an eye on her in case she decides to go completely Psycho as well.""
Nari nodded, a concerned look on her face.
"Yes, we can't be too careful."
Ekuur hold a hand up to everyone. "Hold. I feel as if we are being watched, from the trees nearby. The seed itself has searched, and I ... feel that it discovered something sentient watching us."
Isaac picks up his ears and looks about.
Perception:
"Nari, would you kindly put some feelers out?"
Nari nodded emphatically, her eyes glowing briefly as she searched for any hostile intentions.
Isaac picks up his ears and looks about.
Perception: 1d20+15"Nari, would you kindly put some feelers out?"
Issac looks about, but hears nothing but a few birdsongs in the nearby scattered copses. The hillside they stand on is mixed field and light forest. There is no undergrowth within about 100 feet of the big tree they just descended
Nari nodded emphatically, her eyes glowing briefly as she searched for any hostile intentions.
Nari:
Ekuur hold a hand up to everyone. "Hold. I feel as if we are being watched, from the trees nearby. The seed itself has searched, and I ... feel that it discovered something sentient watching us."
"I dont suppose the seed could point us in the actual direction." Merle asks as she uses her wand of Mage armour on herself.
At a mental nudging from Merle Seph (in cat form) takes cover behind Ekuur
Ekuur:
*Bearer. Why do you venerate fire? The forest fears fire. Isn't fire bad?*
Nari: ** spoiler omitted **Nari nodded emphatically, her eyes glowing briefly as she searched for any hostile intentions.
** spoiler omitted **Nari: ** spoiler omitted **Nari nodded emphatically, her eyes glowing briefly as she searched for any hostile intentions.
Nari's eyes flash an ethereal blue for just a moment
Nari:
Ekuur: ** spoiler omitted **
Ekuur gets another far away look to his eyes.
"Another question: as you searched the area, I could tell you found the consciousness of another sentient being, watching us. Can you help me pinpoint where that creature is?"
Ekuur:
*Yes that seems correct. Everything has its function, the important thing is the balance*
His second question focuses the seed's psyche over to a stand of woods about three hundred feet (100 meters) from their current position. Ekuur's viewpoint rockets over towards the stand until he is looking through a songbird's eyes at a tanned young elven lass with auburn hair and full blue eyes crouched among some bushes, still as a doe. She watches their party in turn, with four large silver ferrets crouched immobile at her feet.
*I sensed a sentience like a tree, but not yet a tree. A seedling of her race. There. *
Ekuur: ** spoiler omitted **
Ekuur's eyes refocus, and he quietly says to the others. "I have seen a young elven girl, no more than 300 feet from us. She is crouched behind some bushes, watching us." He nods in the direction of the woods where he saw the girl.
"Does she look like the hostile type?" Merle quietly asks
"Does she look like the hostile type?" Merle quietly asks
"One thing I have learned out here is that things are rarely as they seem. But no, I did not get that impression; she was little older than a child, I think."
Nari staggers a little, her mental senses overwhelmed from the accidental contact with the edges of the Seed's consciousness.
She barely hears Ekuur's words about the direction of the one following them, but she steered her senses in that direction and carefully away from the Seed. She was much too far to tell if the girl was hostile though.
"Would you like me to go investigate?"